December 30, 2017

Reset + renew – two words that keep making their way into my life and demanding attention.

I have experienced different wake up calls over the last few years to my mental, physical, and spiritual health. Sometimes, it takes an ER visit to wake you up, and other times it can be a slow and gradual degradation that grabs hold of you eventually. After having my last two babies so close in age, and trying to run a full time family business, I was forced to face some things about my health that seemed to cross paths and knot at the center. I am in the midst of figuring it all out still, but if my own experience can help another, I am open to sharing it. I have spent so much time studying the human person, and wanting to understand how every layer of our beings are connected. I have become so intrigued and fascinated by what I am learning. I think as women especially, we are very good at neglecting self care in one aspect or another and often fail to realize how one area of our life quickly affects the other. We were designed to be complex, intricate, and unique, but when we fail to understand how woven the facets of our being really are, we can easily lose our way.

Since this seems to be the time of year everyone craves change (I tend to go through it in both winter and summer!), I wanted to extend a hand and invite you to take part in a little challenge with me to reset and renewin the three main categories of our health: mind. body. soul. Before Gabe and I dive into home design updates, family topics, etc., I wanted to start the year with something that goes a little deeper. I have such a strong appreciation for women of all walks of life, and feel a strong tug to share more on these topics with you. I hope you can join me. I am very much looking forward to resetting for this year ahead. My main motivation is for the people I love most. When I take care of my well being, it affects everyone in our home in a more positive way.

I will be sharing a few posts this week on mental, physical, and emotional health here on the blog, and will continue to post on relevant topics throughout the month on @IHODwellness instagram. I am including a guide you can download and print that will help you stay on track for taking the time to care for each area of your life. I am putting mine by my bed! This is where I need to see it right when I wake up to remind me of simple bite sized goals for the day that can start to form the habits that contribute to a balanced life. Know that you are doing this along with other women including myself, and would love to hear how from you as you do tackle this!

Here is the general outline: Mind – Stress busters, self care, forming good habits, decluttering, and renewing. Body – Inside and out health including gut detox, immune building, clean recipes, physical exercise, skin detox, and clean body care. Spirit – Finding time and place to work on feeding your soul. Forming consistent habits, finding what fuels you, healthy relationships, and tuning into the means to take care of the soul in you.

If there is even one area that you feel like needs attention in your life, this little challenge can be for you! Find a buddy to do it with you so you can check in on each other.

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Love this!! And I love you for sharing a similar heart for other women as do I! You’ve just already acted upon it. Kudos to you! I will certainly be following along this journey with you. I am in need of balance in all three areas following high stress moments (death in family, job loss, etc), recovering from adrenal fatigue, and so on. The tug is so great, so thank you! This came at just the right time for me and I am so excited for your journey and those of the other women that join you!

Yes, yes, yes to this!!! It couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve recently had to homeschool my son because he’s too ill to attend school and had had a rough year wishing he could just go back to life as usual and struggling with my own chronic illness for the past 7 years. I am afraid I am close to running on empty and need to learn to start putting the oxygen mask on myself in order to care for others. Thank you so very much for this!!!

Anna this is great. You are a wise woman for listening to the whispers of wisdom. I have been there in years past and still have to remind myself that I need to refocus or give more attention to area ABorC when I start to see some old red flags. Managing a big family, being a friend, and wife, daughter, sister, worker at xyorz is A lot. Have you ever listened to the song by Sara Groves called Finite? I often think of this and it rings true. I believe God has set good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and for some of us serving in lots of different roles that can often look like a lot. However He has never forgotten that we are finite and come to an end in so many ways. We can’t either!

The guide is so great for seeing my strengths (I feel good about my soul) and my weaknesses (I need ALL the things! for physical). We are so on the same page for mind – except my boss got us massages for Christmas and I can’t turn off my brain to enjoy it. Can’t wait to see the related posts to this. I love the tips and will definitely be using the download for guidance. Thanks!

Thanks for creating this guide, Anna. I appreciate its depth but also its simplicity. I’ve gotten caught up in some pretty intense, highly type A goal setting guides. They don’t work for me, and leave me overwhelmed and frustrated. I’m grateful for your more balanced and realistic approach to self care and striving for a healthier lifestyle. Looking forward to following along with you via IG.

This is so great!! Thanks for sharing!! Have you heard of #thefives…I saw you get up early to pray and we are about to start a new session. We get up 5 days a week at 5 am for 5 weeks and pray. You get to check in with a group and there are prayer prompts daily too! It’s pretty big is Texas right now. My mom lives in Alpharetta, GA and does it too!! So good 🖤